Sail Away with Me

As the story goes...

Florence Young was born in New Zealand in 1856.  She was of English heritage and her father had been a judge in India before moving back to England to get married and then moving all the way to New Zealand to become a farmer.  She began to take her faith seriously while in her late teens.  It is during this time that her family moved to Australia.  Her brothers started a sugar plantation, which employed many workers from all over the Pacific Islands.  At the age of twenty-one, Florence began teaching the workers the Christian faith. Soon after, she expanded the ministry to other plantations, sending out letters to churches soliciting their financial support.  She did not care which churches sent the money or sent volunteers as long as these volunteers, regardless of denominational affiliation, were "true and faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, and willing to work with other Christians on the common ground of faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." This willingness to work with all kinds of Christians is called "ecumenism."  

In the 1890's, Florence handed over direction of Queensland Kanaka Mission to coworkers and moved to China to serve as a missionary.  She was a pioneer in doing as a woman what the church had told her and many others could only be accomplished by men.  Her time in China came to an end as a result of the Boxer Rebellion, which was a widespread and extremely violent uprising of Chinese peasants with the ultimate goal of chasing all foreigners out of China, especially Christians of European descent.  Feeling she had more work to do, she chose not to be martyred and moved back to Australia.  She expected to resume her work with the ever growing Christian communities of Pacific Island workers on the plantations.  This was not to be, however. In 1901 a law was passed that expelled all Pacific Islanders from Australia and deported them back to their ancestral homelands.  This created great fear and hardship among the workers because they had left their homelands on purpose as there was no work to be had back home (sound familiar?).  Also, they'd been in Australia so long (many for multiple generations) that they often did not live by many of their ancestral ways. It would be a tremendous culture shock to go back now.  Plus, thousands had become Christians and they feared being persecuted or even put to death when they returned to their native lands. They were also quite young in their Christian faith. They'd have no guidance to help them grow into spiritual maturity.  The situation broke Florence's heart.

Many of us would say, "That sounds tough.  I'll miss you."  Not Florence!  She and a few others bought a yacht (not what we think of as a yacht) and began sailing throughout the Pacific Islands to supply and support the more than 2,000 Pacific Islander Christians that had been deported from Australia.  She did not see it as her mission to try to share the gospel with the native population herself.  That should be done by the Pacific Islanders themselves.  Her mission was to teach and support the Christian Pacific Islanders so that they could share the gospel.  For years she lived on the boat, called Evangel, going from island to island, teaching and praying with and for the Pacific Islander Christians.  Eventually she moved to Sydney, Australia and took on a more administrative role in what had come to be known as South Sea Evangelical Mission.  She died in 1940.

As a person who is often too lazy to get up early enough to have a morning devotional time and who thinks I've gone a long way to do God's work when I have to drive to Columbus, I am awed by Florence's commitment to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

On the Job Training

As the story goes…

Ambrose was a civil governor in the Italian city of Milan in the late 4th Century. During Ambrose’s time there was a big Christological (who is Jesus?) conflict within the church in Europe and northern Africa. It was between those who believed in the Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and those who believed that the Son (Jesus) was not fully divine but created by and less than God. The Trinitarians were called Catholics and those with the other point of view were called Arians (after their top proponent Arius). As civil governor, Ambrose chastised the church for being so divided and told them to figure it out peacefully. As often happens, because he was the one that had the idea, someone said he should be the one to make sure it happened. “Ambrose for bishop!” someone yelled. Others joined in and the chant became deafening, “Ambrose for bishop!” Ambrose got out of the building as quickly as he could. He ended up going into hiding to keep from having to become bishop.

Why didn’t Ambrose want to become bishop? Well, first of all, remember that he already had a job—civil governor. The biggest reason, however, was that not only was he not an ordained priest (usually a prerequisite for bishop), but he wasn’t even baptized! Eventually he gave in to the pressure, feeling that just maybe it was God’s doing. So Ambrose had to be baptized, confirmed, and ordained in speedy fashion so he could become Bishop of Milan. He had absolutely no training whatsoever, yet he ended up becoming one of the best bishops ever!

One thing Ambrose is famous for is that he identified a young man who’d been headed in the wrong direction and then mentored him, preparing him for service to the Church. This young man was named Augustine, and he ended up being the most important Christian theologian after the New Testament. The other thing about Ambrose that sticks with me is that when the Goths began to overrun the Roman Empire, they began to kidnap people, threatening to kill them unless a ransom was paid. The families could not pay and the government refused, so Ambrose ordered that all the gold objects in the churches be melted down and used to pay the ransoms. He said, “It is a better thing to save souls for the Lord than to save treasures. He who sent forth his apostles without gold had not need of gold to form his Church. The Church possesses gold, not to hoard, but to scatter abroad and come to the aid of the unfortunate. Would not the Lord say to us: 'Why have you let so many needy perish of hunger? Since you had gold, you should provide for their needs'...Could we say: 'I feared to leave the temple of God without ornament.' But that which can't be bought with gold does not take its value from gold. The best way to use the gold of the Redeemer is for the redemption of those in peril.”

Amen, brother.  Sometimes those who start out without a clue what they're doing end up being the best there's ever been.

Something New for the New Year

In the three years that I've had this "Beneath the Celtic Cross" pastor's blog, I've written more than 130 posts. I've discussed everything from Batman to tornadoes and from baseball to Jungian psychology. As would be expected, over time it has grown harder and harder to figure out what in the world I'm going to write about from week to week. Also, I've become a bit tired of my own musings and judging from the steady decline of readership over the last year or so others have gotten tired of them too. My first inclination was to discontinue the blog, but enough people appreciate it and look forward to it each week that I decided not to end it all together. Instead, I'm "re-launching" the "Beneath the Celtic Cross" pastor's blog as "As the Story Goes: Pastor Everett's Weekly Take on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Church History in About 500 Words." In case you have this page as one of your favorites in your web browser (a guy can dream, right?) you should know that I'm not changing the web address.

Each week in 2015 I'll tell you a little bit about some figure, group, or event in the history of our Christian family. Some of those stories will be uplifting, some will be embarrassing. Some will be humbling, and others will be downright terrifying. I'll try to do it in a way that will engage you all in the great story that is the history of the Christian faith. I won't just "report the news;" I'll tell the story. Although I said I'm tired of my own musings, there will probably be some of those slipped in each week as well. But out of mercy for you and for me I'll limit myself to 500 words for each post.

Each week I will begin the post with these words: "As the story goes..." Then I will tell you a brief story from the history of the church that I've read somewhere. One week it may be about some giant of Church history like St. Augustine or Martin Luther and the next week it might be about someone or some event of which you've never heard. Why am I doing this? Well, to be completely honest with you part of my motives are self-serving. I absolutely love history. I can't get enough of it! This will give me yet another opportunity to learn more about it. Second is the fact that, as Christians, church history is our family story. Just like the stories of our biological families, our Christian family story is full of "the good, the bad, and the ugly." It is important for us to be encouraged by the encouraging stories of our Christian family and inspired by the bad and the ugly to be better disciples of the Prince of Peace than our forebears have been at times.

Well, that's about 500 words. We'll get started next week.

Blessings on your New Year,
Everett